Veteran umpire Joe West has already made headlines in 2020 for his views about COVID-19 — in July, he spoke about how he thought the statistics about the virus weren’t “accurate.”
On Sunday, he was once again in the news for a bizarre ejection during a Washington Nationals loss to the Atlanta Braves: he tossed Nats general manager Mike Rizzo, who was sitting in a luxury suite.
Initially, it was thought that he ejected Rizzo for not wearing a mask while sitting in one of Truist Park’s upper deck, but it turns out that West had heard enough of Rizzo’s remarks that he could hear in a mostly empty stadium.
Umpire Joe West called security to apparently eject Nationals GM Mike Rizzo for not wearing a mask. pic.twitter.com/9fCYJOWJaI
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 7, 2020
From the Associated Press:
The 67-year-old West, on track to set the record for most games umpired in big league history next year, said the crew told the commissioner’s office Friday that Rizzo was hollering at umpires earlier in the Nationals-Braves series.
“We informed the office that if it continued we’d stop it,” West said. “And we did.”
West also had this to say, which has ignited all kinds of opinions on social media: “I wouldn’t take that from a player. I wouldn’t take that from a manager. If it was Donald Trump, I’d eject him, too. But I’d still vote for him.”
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